Why does Rimmer talk about going "back to earth"

Simon: How old is Rimmer in Series One? Chris Barrie was 28. If Rimmer was the same age, it means that he joined the Space Corps between ages 13-16, which seems very unlikely. Seems Doug and Rob messed up the maths if that is true.

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My guess was going to be around his early thirties and that does tie in reasonably well with my supposition that Rimmer went more or less straight into the JMC from finishing his education (I'd presume that he didn't pass or got booted off whatever further education courses he took otherwise I'd assume he'd have those certificates on display alongside his swimming certificates), although I think the only time a character's age is actually mentioned in the show is in Lister's preamble to Tikka to Ride.*

I wouldn't take an actor's age as anything other than a ball-park indication of roughly what sort of age the character is supposed to be. Personally I took Chris Barrie to be somewhere between a mature looking mid-20s and a youthful looking mid-30s in The End, a pretty wide ball-park I admit, but I think that's about as much of a guess as you can reasonably make.

As an aside, I'm sure I can recall someone doing the maths on Kochanski based on Lister's comments in Entangled and working out that she should be about 11 in The End! So either the JMC does employ children (as officers no less) and Grogan-Kochanski was incredibly physically mature for her age, or yeah, Maths really isn't Doug's strong suit.

(Or C: It's a sitcom and they really didn't think it was that important)

He makes reference to going to school at Io House in Dimension jump and belonging to the Io Amateur wargames and recreators of the battle of Neasden society in Meltdown for two more off the top of my head. I'm sure there are others but I'm at work at the moment.

He makes reference to going to school at Io House in Dimension jump and belonging to the Io Amateur wargames and recreators of the battle of Neasden society in Meltdown for two more off the top of my head. I'm sure there are others but I'm at work at the moment.

Maybe it is, from the TV series we know and can deduce precious little about the general state of the solar system, its human colonies and society at the point Red Dwarf left it. The books fill in a few more blanks, but as the books are regarded as a separate continuity I'm always wary from taking too much from them as being valid in the TV series' continuity.

Simon: How old is Rimmer in Series One? Chris Barrie was 28. If Rimmer was the same age, it means that he joined the Space Corps between ages 13-16, which seems very unlikely. Seems Doug and Rob messed up the maths if that is true.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't get to bogged down with ages. In Entangled doesn't Lister say that Kochanski is 31? Well Back to Earth tells us that at least 9 years have passed, So she was at least 22 in Series 8. In series 8 Lister tells Rimmer he has been gone for "5...6 years not counting stasis" So that would make her 16 when Lister was going out with her. Creepy!

Simon: How old is Rimmer in Series One? Chris Barrie was 28. If Rimmer was the same age, it means that he joined the Space Corps between ages 13-16, which seems very unlikely. Seems Doug and Rob messed up the maths if that is true.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't get to bogged down with ages. In Entangled doesn't Lister say that Kochanski is 31? Well Back to Earth tells us that at least 9 years have passed, So she was at least 22 in Series 8. In series 8 Lister tells Rimmer he has been gone for "5...6 years not counting stasis" So that would make her 16 when Lister was going out with her. Creepy!

Simon: How old is Rimmer in Series One? Chris Barrie was 28. If Rimmer was the same age, it means that he joined the Space Corps between ages 13-16, which seems very unlikely. Seems Doug and Rob messed up the maths if that is true.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't get to bogged down with ages. In Entangled doesn't Lister say that Kochanski is 31? Well Back to Earth tells us that at least 9 years have passed, So she was at least 22 in Series 8. In series 8 Lister tells Rimmer he has been gone for "5...6 years not counting stasis" So that would make her 16 when Lister was going out with her. Creepy!

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My personal rationalisation for this discrepancy is that Kochanski was 31 the last time Lister saw her, so not knowing whether she's spent time in stasis or deep sleep it's the only kind of reference point Lister has for her age, her chronological age is probably actually much closer to Lister's.

I was always stunned by that line about Kochanski's age!!
When I heard that for the firsts time I was scared this meant that if Doug ever brought her back it'd be a new/younger actress.
Then I wondered if Doug meant it to say that the cast are still meant to be in their 30's. I think your theory makes the most sense, Simon, so I'll keep that one if you don't mind!!